Senators talk haunted houses and student outreach

Members of the Skarland Hall Council came to the meeting to petition student government for $500 of funding in order to put on a haunted house event in the vacant Stevens Hall. The haunted house would have three floors in total, two for adults and one for children. They also petitioned RHA for $500 in funding, although that decision has not yet been made.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Red Cross hurricane relief fund. Senator David Ambrose had some concerns with the target of these donations.

“The CEO makes $651,000 plus expenses,” Ambrose said. “There are other charities that donate more of a percentage to the actual charity.”

Canned food can also be donated for a discount on the haunted house tickets, with all donations going to the Fairbanks Community Food Bank.

Some senators found the requested amount to be too high, especially when combined with the $500 already requested from RHA.

“Do you have a clear-cut cost breakdown?” asked Senator Hannah Smith, “Because a thousand dollars is a lot of money for an event, even though we’re only giving you $500.”

Multiple senators also raised concerns about the proposed date, as it would either overlap with the upcoming UAA vs UAF hockey game or conflict with other Halloween events on campus.

Speaking out in support of the event was Diana Ramstad, a UAF student attending the meeting, remarking “This is about providing a safe place for children to have a place to go, in this day and age, to know that the University of Alaska, Fairbanks is a safe place to bring children that will not get razors in their candy.”

The bill was expedited due to the time-sensitive nature of the event, bypassing the usual second week reading of the bill. In the end, the bill was passed with a 4-3 majority.

Further Event Funding

The senators approved a bill to allocate $750 to the Wood Center Take-Over event that aims to increase involvement and communication between the student body and the senate. This event would involve ASUAF paying for the use of many Wood Center activities, including the bowling alley, pool tables, arcades, and more. A date for this event has not yet been set, and the bill itself was amended to remove the originally proposed month of November.

$50 was also approved for the use of purchasing snacks for ASUAF tabling events throughout this academic year, an incentive for students to interact with the ASUAF members.

Adjournment

The first motion to adjourn the meeting failed when Senator Raven Palmer asked a question about Senator Daniel Dougherty regarding a conversation he previously had with her about her scheduling conflicts.

Senate Chair Samuel Mitchell felt that, according to the bylaws, the initiation of such a conversation had been outside of Dougherty’s purview, so he moved the topic to a private discussion after the meeting adjourned.